吃瓜不打烊

We love hearing about restorers overcoming challenges and we are always here to support you. Last year, over 7000 restorers attended our virtual events and you had some great questions for us. We sat down with CR Kris Rzesnoski and asked him to weigh in on your top questions from the year!

Your property restoration questions, answered.

How to handle adjuster objections in property restoration 馃洃

Question: What are the top strategies for handling adjuster objections? Especially if they鈥檙e opinion-based.

Answer: 鈥淥ne of the top strategies I used was actually providing some of the evidence that you need to support your argument 鈥� not so that you can come at it from an aggressive standpoint, but more to help educate the other side.

You have to understand, if you鈥檙e dealing with a junior adjuster or an adjuster that maybe wasn鈥檛 dealing with property restoration, it鈥檚 to give them some education. Make it a safe place for them to ask questions of why you did something, and then go back and refer to standards and explain how it worked in your job or why you had to apply certain techniques to your job.

That鈥檚 usually the best way to avoid a serious confrontation in property restoration; sometimes you鈥檙e going to have to elevate that up to a senior adjuster or manager to further the conversation. But that was my best strategy, and it鈥檚 the one that worked the most for me.鈥�

What makes an incredible report 馃搩

Question: What does a great report look like? What鈥檚 the list of things a property restoration report should always include?

Answer: 鈥淵ou get this question a lot, 鈥榟ow do I get a great report?鈥� And the best reports that you see out there are going to cover off the basics, which is: do you have the cause of loss or source of loss covered off. That鈥檚 big because that鈥檚 answering the question of 鈥榠s there coverage and does the coverage apply?鈥�

And then inside every affected room, you want to have the overview photos, pre existing conditions, resulting damages to contents, and resulting damages to the building. Any of the information that you need to provide 鈥� such as video, or photos, or 3D imaging 鈥� you want to make sure you get to the adjuster so that you have that report telling the entire story of what happened on the loss, what did the property look like before the loss, and how are you going to be handling it.鈥�

Fixing missing documentation when the job is already complete 馃槺

Question: Are there best practices for fixing missing documentation if the job is already complete?

Answer: 鈥淚f you鈥檙e missing information on a property restoration job, that鈥檚 one of the tough things; there鈥檚 no good way to go back and create that information. A friend of mine, Noris, says if you do it before, it鈥檚 an explanation; if you do it after, it鈥檚 an excuse. And it really looks that way when you start to document things after the problem has occurred.

Normally it鈥檚 there鈥檚 a problem, and that鈥檚 why you鈥檙e going back and having to fix the documentation and answer questions that you didn鈥檛 collect in the beginning. The best way you can fix that is to put really good processes in place so that on all your property restoration jobs going forward, you鈥檙e actually collecting the information you need to answer those questions.鈥�

Documenting your way to better profits 馃挵

Question: How can documentation help you be more profitable on a loss?

Answer: 鈥淚f you look at the difference between restorers that are making money and restorers that are struggling to make money, it has to do with the documentation that you鈥檙e doing on a property restoration job. It鈥檚 the story you鈥檙e telling, it鈥檚 the explanation of what did you need to do, why did you do it, and then what was the outcome that came from that.

Everytime that you go and apply equipment to a job and then you get questioned on it, you need to have that supporting documentation to be able to hold your ground to explain what you were trying to do. Especially when you鈥檙e dealing with an adjuster that鈥檚 inside programs, you鈥檙e going to have to understand how those documentation practices apply, and then how it will be impacted by the rules of a carrier.鈥�

Saving time while documenting 鈴�

Question: What are the best time saving tips when you鈥檙e documenting a loss?

Answer: 鈥淭rying to save time on a job isn鈥檛 as intuitive as you would think, but that鈥檚 because the technology hasn鈥檛 been there like we have now. In the past, it usually was the project manager that would document every room, and they were responsible for gathering all that data.

But now with today鈥檚 technology, especially within 吃瓜不打烊, you can have multiple people documenting the job at one time. This means you can spend less minutes on the job site and still get the same great results, or even better results, because you have multiple people documenting rooms. Now your project manager can focus on the customer, and not on doing the administrative task of taking photos and explaining the loss.鈥�

Save even more time by training with 吃瓜不打烊U.

Final thoughts on property restoration in 2023 馃��

Question: Closing thoughts as we move from 2022 to 2023?

Answer: 鈥淚n 2023, with the recession looming and potentially coming or already here, you鈥檙e going to see a lot of pressure downward on you. This is because the insurance companies aren鈥檛 making their money on investment income 鈥� they鈥檙e going to have to make it in claims income. And at that point, that鈥檚 going to put pressure on your property restoration business.

You鈥檙e going to have to do your due diligence of really documenting your jobs, making sure that you can justify all your charges. But the result should be that you鈥檙e delivering a better product, you鈥檙e delivering a better service, and you鈥檙e helping the adjuster do their job."